Friction (The Frenzy Series Book 4) (12 page)

Tage did all the work but didn’t break a sweat from carrying a man on his back. Roman, still recovering from his illness, was panting and weak. He could barely lift his arm to wipe the sweat from his brow. “Thank God.”

He gave us each a small plant. “Nightshade. Belladonna. It took us down a notch when the darts hit. Not enough to stop us, but enough that it might ease the frenzy you’re about to feel and maybe keep it under control until we can get Porschia out. As soon as you turn, eat it. It might help the pain. Garreth said he’d seen a vampire use it to ease their hunger before.”

“Is the pain like the Infection?” I asked warily.

Tage laughed. Roman clapped me on the back and said, “You thought turning into a monster was going to be easy?”

“No, I just wondered if the pain was similar.”

I’d experienced turning into one curse, and seen someone turn into the other. I knew there was pain, but would the pain be like when Mercedes bit me? Would it spread fast and feel bone deep?

Mercedes frowned. “Can we hurry up and get this over with?” she said in frustration. She was emotional, much more than her sister. I didn’t look forward to her in Frenzy.

“I’m just worried,” she shouted, brushing the hair from her face. “And we’re wasting time. Porschia is in trouble.”

Tage pulled a small knife from his pocket. “Who’s first?”

“Me,” I said, stepping forward.

Tage’s brow popped up. “Always the hero, until you’re not.”

“Turn me, asshole.” God, I hated him. And while the others were dealing with the turn, I would run as fast as I could to her. Something told me there was no time to waste.

He cut his index finger. “Drink up. But don’t think about being a hero. We leave here together as a group.”

“Yeah,” I lied. “We go together.” I opened my mouth and let him squeeze a drop onto my tongue. Immediately my eyes began to water. Sharp pain. Fucking. Everywhere. I was on the ground. I was... “Aaaaah!”

Tage was laughing and I wanted to kill him for it. Maybe I would. Later.

White. Hot. Pain.

Oh, God.

I wasn’t strong enough for this.

Chewing the flower didn’t help.

I rocked on the ground.

God. Stop this.

Make it stop.

Hunger. My stomach. I held it tightly to make it stop.

My mouth.

My gums.

Holy...

I laughed at Saul as he writhed on the ground, his cheeks puffing out violently with each sharp exhale. The pain was going to suck. I’d been through it before, but I was healthy the last time I turned.

“Just do it,” I said, stepping forward. Tage winced but squeezed a drop into my mouth. The same fucking fire began to burn in me, and soon I was writhing on the ground beside Saul.

I shouldn’t have laughed. Karma’s a real bitch.

Watching the two men scream and tear at the hairs of their head, thrashing on the ground almost made me back out. My hands shook so bad, I had to lace my fingers together in front of me. “It’s okay if you change your mind,” Tage said quietly.

“These women are really that bad?” How bad could they be? I’d always feared the male night-walkers. They seemed so intense, almost like they were stalking prey when their eyes found their way to a human too often.

“They’re the worst. You heard Garreth. They’re depraved. They don’t value human life at all. My bet is that they won’t hesitate to hurt Porschia if it benefits them.”

“They’ll hurt her?”

He nodded. “I think so.” I could see stress settle in the lines of his face. He wanted nothing more than to run to The Manor and tear the place apart until he found my sister, but now he was going to have to take the time to rein us all in. He loved her. I could see it in the crinkles feathering from the corners of his eyes, in the way he kept looking past me as if she’d appear from the direction he’d last seen her.

“Female night-walkers are the most dangerous. That’s what they said in Mountainside.” And Garreth was always honest with us. He was helpful but wary; frightened. The man was as tall as an oak and scared to death of Porschia. It wasn’t Tage that he feared.

Tage smiled. “All women are vicious.” I could see why my sister liked him. If nothing more, I owed her and him more time together.

“Then I’ll do it. Let’s go get my sister and teach these bitches a lesson.”

He held his finger up and cursed. I’d taken so long to decide, his finger had already healed, so he had to cut it again. I stared into the blue sky, my eyes watering as he squeezed the droplet onto my tongue. This wasn’t forever, I told myself. I’d find an Infected and we could heal each other –

Oh. My. God.

Lightning. I’d been struck by lightning. It coursed through me. It burned me from the inside out.

Singe.

Burn.

Tear.

Rip.

My mouth. My stomach. My head. It was too much.

My legs.

Arms.

Face. It was on fire!

Mouth.

My mouth.

My mouth was ripping open.

Back.

Feet.

I couldn’t take it.

“Help me!” I heard myself scream, shrill and inhuman.

Tage was in front of me. “Chew the plant.”

“I can’t. My mouth!” My lips shook violently as I said the words. I couldn’t chew, but I was getting hungrier by the second. Insatiably so.

“I know, but you have to, Cede. If you want to help Porschia, you have to.”

He shoved the plant – leaves, flower and all – into my mouth and told me to chew. “You’re as stubborn as your sister.”

We
had
to be stubborn. It was a survival response. We had to be strong to be able to survive Mother. And it was all Roman’s fault. I’d make him pay for what he and his brother did…right after I figured out how to make the pain go away. I chewed, my head thumping back onto the earth with a dull thud. The plant seemed to help. It eased the pain. Slightly. And it made me hungrier. Was that possible?

“You okay?” Tage asked, crouching beside me. Saul and Roman had stopped transitioning. I was coming out of it, too.

I nodded, tears filling my eyes. This was horrible, but Porschia had to deal with this and so much more. I bit her and then she started feeling ill from the Infection. Then she used her ring and turned into this… I couldn’t imagine the feeling of both because right now, I felt as though I’d been ripped apart and was slowly and painfully being stitched back together.

How would she ever feel whole again?

“Don’t cry,” Tage said gently.

“I’ll cry if I want, damn it!” I tried to sit up but my stomach hurt. Tage grabbed my hand and pulled me until I was sitting up. “My stomach.”

“You need to feed soon.”

Easing my trembling fingers toward my mouth, I felt them for the first time. Pointed and sharp, much longer than Porschia’s, my fangs punctured my bottom lip. Tage growled at the sight of the blood. “Your sister is going to kill me.”

I smiled. “Not if we save her first.”

He groaned and shook his head with a smile. “Nah, pretty sure I’m dead either way.”

“Feels like it,” Saul said, standing up from the ground. He gave Roman a hand and the two staggered for a moment, like baby deer after being born.

Saul crouched across from us. “I’m so hungry,” he growled.

Roman was almost beyond the transition, too. They were becoming more steady on their feet, regaining balance. Saul’s eyes darted toward everything he heard. I remembered the acuteness. It was overwhelming to me, but he seemed to be handling it well—another reason to hate him, I decided. I pointed in the direction of The Glen. “There are strays inside the walls.”

When Saul smiled, I noted that the bastard had longer fangs than any of us. “Not anymore,” he said slyly, and took off running like he was meant to be a night-walker. Roman chased after him.

“Roman!”

“I’m okay. Sort of!”

Mercedes asked me to help steady her, so I did. She was shorter than Porschia and pretty in a conventional way, but nowhere near as beautiful as her sister. Not as feisty either.

“I need to eat,” she said, panting and staring at the rapidly disappearing backs of Roman and Saul. “How do I run as fast as you and Porsch?”

“Just run. Speed will come sooner or later. There’s not a magical switch to flip.”